Nowhere and Everywhere
by Take.It.Over
Summary: A lonely song by a lonely man is heard by none for many years. He plays to forget, he plays to remember. The piano consumes his days in a life never ending, holding a slim hope that someday, somebody will hear his mourning tune.
1. The Lonely Song of the Lonely Man

**A/N:** **It's short because this is just an intro. All chapters will be at least 1,000 words long. Enjoy!**

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The Lonely Song of the Lonely Man

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 _The music seemed to come out of nowhere and everywhere at the same time. Its melody was mourning and lonely, the player channeling their emotions into it, causing the piano tones to take a life of its own. Despite its sadness, the beauty of the song was unmatched, and permeated the souls of anybody who heard it._

 _But nobody ever did. It was a lonely song by a lonely man, forever secluded, forever wishing for a companion. It was a song by a man who had lived a long time, and had since come to the realization that he'll never find true happiness, and covered it up by playing his grand piano, its glossy surface starting to fade after years of intense use and care. The piano bench worn from years of use as well, the fabric faded and fraying at the edges. The keys yellowed and difficult to press down. However, the lonely song of the lonely man continued, seeming to come out of nowhere and everywhere, for nobody to hear._


	2. Perfection

Perfection

* * *

Mosquitos were everywhere, buzzing incessantly around Vash's ears as he walked around the construction site, men and women working tirelessly in the mostly sunny day, on the edge of a small town in Austria. His clipboard gripped tight in his left hand and a pen in the other, the short, blond man went around the site, checking the progress of the workers, and making sure everything was up to code and being done properly. He could look at a nail in wood and tell if it was crooked; he could tell if a beam was centimeter to the left. His eye for perfection and safety had landed him this job early on in his career, for which he was thankful. He had a sister to get through private school, after all.

There was a smack on his arm and he jumped back, prepared to hit the smacker with his clipboard.

Ludwig lifted his hands up in surrender. "Sorry, Vash. There was a big one on your arm."

Vash scowled and looked down at his now red arm, covered in blood and mosquito guts.

"Please get back to work."

Ludwig rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir." He turned and picked up his saw, cutting boards. Vash watched his technique for a bit, before he put a checkmark on his board, calmly wiping the mess from his arm and onto the side of his suit pants.

Walking on, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was very hot, in the height of summer, and he was wearing a full suit, as required by his job as a safety inspector. However, it was obviously a poor clothing choice for the current weather. Vash just paused under the shade of a tree, ducking below a beam that nearly smacked his head as a person carried it by. Re-catching his balance, he flipped through some pages on his clipboard and scratched out an angry X on one space, glaring after the offending beam.

The construction site was to someday hold an office building for Greentech Systems, a company that had started its beginning in the United States of America, eventually spreading throughout Europe. They sold equipment for clean energy and other "green" practices for both "The Home and Workplace", as their slogan informed Vash. As to why they decided to build the office in a small town, Vash only had an inkling of the reason, which may have to do with the lack of jobs available for the town inhabitants. The actual factory was near Vienna.

The office building was in the structural stages, one of Vash's most busy inspecting times. He was almost always on the site, making sure everything was...perfect.

However, after another hour of walking in the sweltering heat, the sun moved to perfectly overhead, and Vash noticed something was off. His head felt stuffed full of cotton, and his mouth was dry. His heart was beating rapidly, and something was off about his vision. He was next to the building now, watching a woman hammer a support beam. Every hit made him flinch, and he looked down at his clipboard, and noticed it was shaking. Then, it started to fade to black.

* * *

Vash slowly came to consciousness, his body feeling heavy and his mouth dry. He squinted against the light and, through his blurry vision, looked at the room he was in. It only took a few seconds for him to realize he was in a hospital bed, an IV drip attached to his arm. He pressed the call button on the side of the bed.

A nurse hurried in and smiled at him.

"Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?"

He coughed and attempted to speak as she took his vitals. Finally, he got out a "thirsty", and she brought him a large hospital cup with a straw, which he drank slowly and shakily.

"Your sister, Lili, is out in the hall. Do you want to see her?" Vash nodded, and the nurse left, Lili replacing her. She rushed over to the bed and gave him a gentle hug.

"I was so worried! They said you passed out at work and I got a ride from Georgie's mom to here. Are you feeling alright?"

He slowly scooted to a better sitting position with Lili's help, and nodded. "Alright is a good word for it. You said I passed out."

"You had heat exhaustion. I told you, you work too hard, brother." She patted his arm and smiled, while he rolled his eyes.

"It's not my fault it's so damn hot outside." He grumbled, sipping his water. "When can I get out of here?"

Lili sat down in a chair next to the bed. "When they say you're rehydrated. You need to drink more water." She rifled around in her purse and pulled out his phone and handed it to him. "You got a message from work."

He took the phone and put in the passcode, opening up the text. It was from his boss, and it said, "Come to my office at 2pm tomorrow to discuss a reassignment." Vash sighed and set the phone down next to him.

"They want to reassign me."

"Is that bad?"

He shook his head. "Not necessarily. I'll probably start working indoors or something. It doesn't look good on the company when one of their inspectors pass out." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "How have you been doing, Lili?"

Even if he called her every day and saw her once a week at her school in Vienna, he still didn't get much chance to talk to her, since he worked often and her schooling was demanding.

"I started working on a new piano piece yesterday. I forgot the name, but it's really pretty. My grades are still good in everything else. Michelle and I did a sculpture together in arts."

"You two are still getting along?"

"She's really nice. You don't have to worry, brother."

He opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "Oh, but I do. It's my responsibility to look after you."

She smiled. "Of course. I'll go talk to the nurse." Lili got up and left, closing the door softly behind her.

Vash drank more of his water, picking up his phone again and replying to his boss, saying he would make it to the meeting. He looked at the news until Lili returned with the nurse that Vash had seen earlier.

The nurse wrote a few things on the clipboard at the end of his bed. "Doctor Ulrich will be in shortly to give your final evaluation before you're relea-" She was cut off by a doctor rushing into the room, breathing heavily.

"I got this, Katlyn. Thanks." He leaned against the wall as the nurse nodded and left, Vash and Lili staring at the doctor while he caught his breath. Once he did, he looked up and gave a bright smile to Vash, his grey eyes almost looking eccentric. He picked up the clipboard.

"Heat exhaustion with quite a bit of dehydration? Let's see…" He checked Vash's vitals and looked at his water cup. "Right. You can take that with you." He gave Vash a stern look. "Drink as much water as possible, and keep off your feet for the next few days. Let's see you try to stand real quick before we release you."

Vash got up shakily, Lili rushing over to his side and helping him. Once he found his balance, he stood straight up, holding onto the bed for support, taking deep breaths.

Dr. Ulrich had him sit back down. "I'll have a nurse walk you out in a wheelchair. Your sister said you had transportation. Just keep off your feet for the next few days or so, drink a lot of water, and keep cool." He smiled and the nurse brought in the wheelchair, Vash being sent home and Lili taken back to school.


	3. Reassignment

Reassignment

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Vash now sat on the couch, reading a large novel. It was the first volume in a large set that was a complete explanation of every war in known history. Every several years, the authors would publish a new novel of wars passed. It had been a gift from his parents after he graduated college, but he was just now getting around to read it.

Slowly making some dinner for himself, he settled back on the couch, balancing the plate on the armrest of the couch. Before he could start eating, his phone rang.

"Hello?"

It was Lili. "Hi big brother. How are you doing? Are you drinking your water?"

Vash glanced over to the water cup on the end table next to him and saw it was only half empty; he had refilled it after he got home from the hospital on the insistence of the girl who was calling him now.

"Um, yes."

There was a pause on the other line and a tiny sigh. "Brother, how much?"

He couldn't lie to her. She knew him too well. "About half. I'm eating dinner now so I'll drink the rest of it while I'm eating, okay?"

"Promise?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, I promise, Lili."

"Goodnight, Vash."

"Goodnight." He hung up the phone and set it down, grabbing the hospital jug and glaring at it for a second, then chugging down half of the remaining water, then going to work on his actual food.

* * *

The next morning he woke up promptly at 10:00, which was extremely late for him. He frowned at the alarm clock, which he had set to 7:30, but he either didn't hear it, or it didn't go off. Vash decided waking up late one day wouldn't hurt. He was feeling better; his head wasn't hurting as much and he didn't feel as dizzy as he stumbled his way into the kitchen, refilling his water bottle and drinking a good quarter of it before he searched the kitchen for something to eat.

Vash lived in a small, one-bedroom house that had a good-sized and clean kitchen, a livingroom, a half-bath and a bathroom connected to his room, and a small, fenced backyard. As usual, it was impeccably clean, everything with a neat and orderly place. He didn't have a television, but instead had a large bookshelf in the livingroom containing most of his book collection, the others in a smaller shelf in his room.

The house was a kilometer and a half away from the construction site that he had been previously working at, and the inspection office was about 20 minutes from his house. Sitting down at his small breakfast table, he ate his toast plain and drank more water.

After breakfast, he took a shower and got dressed, deciding he felt good enough to take the short walk to his mailbox. He grabbed his keys and stepped out his front door, locking it securely behind him and started down his front walkway.

The neighborhood he lived in was mainly smaller houses, but they were well-kept and clean. Most people were friendly, and every few months the cul de sac he lived on would have a small barbeque. Sometimes he would attend, just to seem friendly for an hour or so and then return back to his house. People were nice, but they also kept out of your business which was the main reason Vash had chosen this neighborhood.

Coming back inside with his mail, he shifted through it, making two piles on the kitchen counter; one for junk mail, and another with bills, letters, etc. Taking the important mail to the couch with his glass of water, he pulled out his old laptop and paid his bills.

After eating a small lunch, he filled one of his own water bottles, grabbed his car keys, and headed out the door to his reassignment meeting with his boss.

* * *

He arrived an hour early, but told the secretary up front that he was waiting. She told him she would inform the boss, and he sat down with his war history book.

At 1:45, Vash was called into the office. Sitting behind a large desk, Mr. Kirkland waved Vash to one of the chairs in front of his large desk. He was hunched over a few documents, signing and crossing out things. After finishing a page, he finally looked up at Vash and smiled slightly.

"How are you doing, Vash? Feeling any better?"

"I get lightheaded if I'm walking or standing for too long, but other than that, I'm fine." He knew better than to lie to Mr. Kirkland who could practically sense when another person was lying to him.

His boss nodded. "Well, let's get to the main subject of your visit." He pulled out a document from the pile on his desk (which Vash had the urge to organize for him) and handed over. It was a reassignment order. Instead of inspecting construction sites, Vash would be inspecting houses, mainly old ones, around the area, determining if they needed work or if they just needed to be torn down.

"Pay will be the same," Mr. Kirkland assured him. "However, if you were to pass out on the job again, we may have some legal issues."

"Of course." Vash mumbled, as he looked over the document. "When will I start work again?"

"What were the doctor's orders? You have plenty of rollover paid leave days if you wanted to use those." Mr. Kirkland opened up a drawer in his desk and leafed through the folders. "I know I have your bloody file here somewhere…"

"I have 22 paid leave days. And I was recommended a couple days' rest."

Mr. Kirkland closed the drawer and nodded. "Then just come back in on Monday. It's Wednesday, so that'll give you enough rest time. You'll get your first assignment that morning."

Vash stood up and shook Mr. Kirkland's hand, leaving the office and driving back home, wondering what his new job would be like.


	4. Inspections

**A/N: Sorry about the wait! I'm in college and working full time now. Comments really help with motivation, because I'll actually forget about the story sometimes until somebody comments or favorites, so I would appreciate even a little comment or a PM if you feel so inclined. Thanks!**

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Chapter 4: Inspections

The house was something straight out of a horror film, with faded paint, rotting wood, and broken windows. It was a dull brown color, and the siding and railings looked like they used to be painted white, but it was a faded brown color as well. Despite the fact that it was three stories tall, you could barely see it from all the overgrown trees. The rest of the landscaping was pretty much impenetrable, and the path to the front porch was considerably narrowed from the overgrowth crawling over it. Luckily, the three of them didn't have to enter yet, and were standing out in the street.

"Structural problems," One of Vash's new partners, Berwald, mumbled. The other, Mathias, nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, the locals say it's haunted and stuff. Some ghost junkies go in there for ghost hunting and…" He paused for effect. "Never come out!"

Vash rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Now, what are we supposed to be doing right now?"

Berwald went over to the truck and came back with some flashlights and hard hats. "It's safe to go inside."

Vash grabbed a hat and light. "Why do we need to go inside?"

"They have it scheduled for demo." Mathias said as he struggled to get his helmet on. "If we can determine it's safe and not a hazard, then, since it's so old, it'll become a historical marker." Berwald nodded in agreement.

Vash stared up at the house, unsure if he actually wanted to go in it. He wasn't superstitious in the least; he always laughed at his peers when they would step over cracks and insist ghosts were real. If he saw a ghost, it would be a different story. But he had never really seen any proof of one existing, or why a ghost would exist.

Matthias started towards the house first, Berwald close behind with a duffel bag of what Vash assumed were tools of some kind. When the former came to the door, he wiggled the door knob and turned back to the two of them.

"Anybody have the key?"

As Berwald rummaged around in the bag, Vash took more time looking around the area. It was almost like they were in a wooded area, though down the road a few hundred feet there were barely any trees. He assumed that behind the house the forest began. Despite the amount of foliage, it was nearly silent, the only noises being a slight breeze and the two men next to him arguing about the key.

Vash then looked at the house. They were up on the front porch which was raised up three creaky steps. Decrepit benches were built into the side of the house, and chains to what might have been a swinging chair hung off to the right end of the porch. The windows, Vash noticed, were covered with heavy, and surprisingly white sheets. He looked up to see the floorboards of the balcony on the second floor, a few holes letting some light through.

An "ah ha!" startled Vash out of his intense inspection of the house. They stepped through the door and closed it behind them, taking in the inside.

It looked surprisingly in-tact for a home that looked so terrible on the outside. It was slightly dusty, and furniture was covered with plastic wraps, the carpets on the floor looking threadbare and dirty. However, nothing was broken or seemingly out of place. The entrance hall they were standing in lead directly to a nice-sized staircase leading upstairs and off to either side were archways leading into other rooms.

"It doesn't look that bad." Mathias gave the floor a couple of firm stomps. "Floor seems solid too. Vash go upstairs. Waldo can go left. I'll go to the right."

Vash was confused that they didn't at least go around as a group. What if somebody feel through the floor suddenly. Looking around again, he seriously doubted there was anything structurally wrong with the house, despite it being around 400 years old. He cautiously walked up the stairs. Since it was his first day on the job, he was more expected to observe the other two, but he supposed he could do his own thing for now, since they seemed to be in their own worlds at the moment.

The stairs opened up to a long hallway to his front, and then two pathways that went left and right that looked over the railing to the first floor, and held several doors on either side. Vash elected to go down the middle hall first, having to turn on his flashlight. He heard the first scuffle when he was nearly halfway down the hall, and he froze in his tracks, listening for another sound. Soon enough, there was another one, and, as quietly as he could, walked towards the sound, which came from a door on his left.

Leaning close to the door, he struggled to hear another sound. Sure enough, a minute later there was a quiet thump, then a giggle.

A _giggle?_ In a 400 year old house? Quickly, he opened the door and stormed in. It was an old bedroom, blue and majestic, but dulled and torn with age.

"Hello?" Vash asked quietly. "I heard somebody laugh…" He looked under the bed and behind the dresser, even cautiously opening a closet, only to discover a roach and a few dusty dresses.

He looked around the room again, deciding to forget about it and that it must've been nothing. He continued down the hallway when he heard the giggling. Again.

Yanking open another door he looked around again, and still saw nobody. However, when he turned around, a woman was standing in the door frame, her long brown hair slightly messy and a grin on her face.

"Who are you?" Vash demanded. "This is property of the government."

She rolled her eyes. "Then why are _you_ here?"

"I'm helping to inspect it. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

At that, the woman's expression became despondent. "I can't." She gripped the doorframe. "I can't leave this place."

Vash was growing frustrated. "Yes, you can. I'll show you the way." He came closer to her, meaning to grab her arm, but she violently jerked away.

"I can't!" She wailed, running out into the hallway.

"Wait!" Vash called out to her, chasing her out. However, when he looked up and down the hallway, he didn't see her. And he hadn't heard any doors close. That really only left the stairs, which he started for.

As he reached the end of the hallway, he was startled to see a man waiting for him. He was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and a grin on his face. His white hair and pale skin contrasted sharply with the darkly papered walls.

"And who are you? Do you know that woman?"

"Hah! So you met Liz? You kinda pissed her off, you know. The 'stuck here for eternity' thing really eats at her."

"What?" Vash heaved a great sigh. "Whatever. I don't know who you people are, but might be potentially unsafe."

The man laughed. "Oh, that's not really a problem for us." Suddenly, his grin turned into a menacing scowl, and Vash could swear his eyes were glowing red. "I would suggest _you_ leave."

Vash backed away slowly, then went quicker down the stairs, calling to Berwald and Mathias. When he looked back up, the white haired man was gone.

* * *

 _"So we searched the house and the surrounding area. No persons of your description were found. We also haven't had problems with squatters or gangs around the area. Perhaps they were just passing through. However, next time call us directly as soon as you see them, and we'll deal with them."_

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Vash nodded as he talked to the officer in the station. He had decided to keep it from Mathias and Berwald because he almost felt like what everything seemed to be pointing to: that they weren't really there. It was almost like they disappeared on the spot.

 _Maybe they were ghosts…_

Vash nearly smacked himself on the head. They looked like normal people. A little strange, but considering they were likely homeless or something, they didn't look too bad. What the man said, about them being trapped, that was a little concerning. Maybe they were just insane.

After signing a few papers, Vash went back home, exhausted and thirsty, which he remedied with a comfy spot on his couch, a large glass of water, and a book. He eventually fell asleep, dreaming vividly about old houses and ghosts, not remembering any in the morning.

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 **A/N: I think the new characters were pretty obvious as to who they are. Any guesses? Are they really ghosts? What is going on? Kudos on you if you can guess. If you read my AO3 and see all the tags you would know right away, hah.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


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